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MADISON, Wisconsin – The leader of the Wisconsin Parole Board agreed on Friday to lift the parole of a convicted murderer at the request of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The governor has been criticized by rival Republicans for ousting him in November.
On Friday, Evers sent a letter to John Tate, chairman of the commission, asking him to reconsider the conditional release of 54-year-old Douglas Balsevich. He was due to be released from prison on Tuesday after serving less than 25 years of his wife’s Johanna Balsevic’s 80-year death sentence in 1997. Evers lacks the power to revoke the conditional release of a convicted person.
Evers met with Johanna Balsevich’s family in the Capitol before sending the letter. The governor wrote that the family did not have a chance to fully respond to this move.
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“I do not agree with this decision and I have significant concerns about whether Johanna’s family has been given sufficient opportunity to express their memories, views and concerns before this decision is made,” Evers wrote.
Tate, appointed by Evers, later said in an email to the Associated Press and the Department of Corrections that he understood the governor’s concerns about the victims’ lack of information and that he was canceling Douglas Balsevich’s parole.
Douglas Balsevich, convicted in 1997
The online court records do not contain Balsevich’s lawyer. They stated that he had represented himself while seeking reimbursement of the DNA testing fee in 2010.
“Oh, God, are you kidding?” Johanna’s sister, Kim Cornills, said in a phone call to the AP that Tate had agreed to cancel Douglas Balsevich’s parole. “Oh God, thank you. Thank you very much. That’s good.”
Cornills was among Joanna’s relatives who met with Evers at the Capitol earlier in the day. She said in an interview shortly after the meeting that the family had not received an official notification from the US Penitentiary Department that Balsevic would be released on parole by Thursday. She said she had warned Evers that elections were coming in November.
“I said, more or less, you will be responsible for that. “Unless changes are made, it will not be good,” she said.
Johanna was 23 when she was stabbed more than 40 times at her home in West Alice. Her husband was sentenced to 80 years in prison on a guilty plea deal.
Douglas Balsevich was eligible for parole for the first time in 2017 and was denied. The Wisconsin Parole Board said in a statement that it came before the commission for a fifth review on April 14.
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Republican gubernatorial candidates Rebecca Cliffish, Kevin Nicholson and Tim Michels have criticized parole. Nicholson and Cliffish called on Evers to fire Tate.
Paul Farrow, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, accused Evers in a statement that he paid more attention to criminals than to victims.
“It didn’t take much public outrage (for Balsevich’s parole) for Tony Evers to finally think about doing the right thing,” Farrow said.
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